Microsoft agitates the world of smartphones

Since the announcement of the "cooperation" between Microsoft and Nokia at Mobile World Congress 2011 , observers have been waiting for what looked very much like an inevitable logical sequence, with this recurring question: When will Microsoft buy the once was Finnish giant ?  
As I was struggling to sleep -it was 5 am here-, I checked twitter to find out that #Microsoft is trending. We finally got an answer:  Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nokia for $ 7.2 billion. The news were received by surprise and mockery.


In an email sent yesterday evening to employees of the firm, Steve Ballmer , CEO leaving Microsoft , announced the acquisition of Nokia 's Devices & Services business , a deal that includes smartphones and mobile division development and design teams , manufacturing units in the world, and operational teams: marketing and support. In total 32,000 Nokia employees will pass directly under Microsoft's banner.
 
Ballmer said that the transaction is " a big step for the future and is in line with the changes announced on July 11". Lumia and Asha in one basket Besides the Nokia Lumia range smartphones composed exclusively of the Windows Phone operating system from Microsoft, this purchase also covers "basic" Asha phones , which will enable Microsoft to expand its hold on mobile telephony.
A major challenge to the two companies , which have failed to negotiate in good time and in the best of their place in the great upheaval of telephony and mobile internet , especially on the smartphone market , monopolized by Apple , Samsung and Google's Android OS , which in turn has also offered another manufacturer , Motorola .  

So, what remains to Nokia? 

Three activities " software, network and services":  Their mapping service, the network infrastructure NSN and Advanced Technologies, and business license and development .  
For Microsoft , it's not big surprise. Their goal was clear, to regain the special privileges they granted Nokia to adapt Windows phone and then to end Nokia. So it is safe to say that the next phone after the latest Lumia ( to be released on the 2nd of October) will be signed Microsoft.

Firefox 20 available in final version

While Netscape freed, 15 years ago, the source code of its Web browser, resulting in the birth of the Mozilla project, Firefox is celebrating today its twentieth release. While the version numbers do not mean much anymore, but each Firefox version has brought a lot of new yet important updates so far. 
In addition to traditional invisible but important improvements, Firefox 20 has two new special updates to the user: 
First and the most visible, the new download manager and button at the top right of the toolbar. No need to start the download window, a single click will display the latest downloads and progression of downloads appears below the button. It is still possible to display a specific window, called "Library" which allows you to organize the downloaded files.
 

 
Another innovation will address the fans of  porn (private) mode that is particularly useful. Firefox offered previously the choice to reboot in private mode when it was selected, then closing the session where you were and preventing juggle between as it is possible such as Chrome.  
This twentieth release now offers navigation window that no longer requires the user to have to close the session to enjoy the incognito mode.

Note that this latest development is also valid for the Android smartphones version of Firefox. 
Finally, for developers, we note the integration of WebRTC's getUserMedia API, a toolbox allowing faster access to development tools. Firefox is available for: Windows, OS X, Linux, Android.

Fine of 561 million euros for Microsoft!

The European Commissioner for competition will be fined € 561 million to Microsoft. This is based again on anti-competitive practices and non-compliance of the giant on its Internet Explorer browser.
 

The story goes back to July 2012. The European Union opens an investigation because they suspect Redmond not to let the 28 million users of Windows 7 SP1 choose their web browser. The giant then admits a technical problem prevents BrowserChoice.eu to display, that allows you to select the browser. 
However, this "technical problem" is contrary to the Commission's requests.

So, again, this giant is mind-numbingly trying to outsmart anyone who stands in their anti-competitive practices.

Audacity.

For those who follow this blog regulary, don't worry this is still a tech related post; for the others, well, I don't really care about you. Unless you're planning to become a regular.

In this post we'll be talking about a behavior that really bugs me, which is audacity.
First I'm going to define it, then I'm going to show you some examples.

Definition: Rude or disrespectful behavior.


First example:

"She had the audacity to pick up the receiver and ask me to hang up".

Our second example will be "Scroogled"

When we talk about lack of security, vulnerability, spyware, malware and viruses the first thing that comes to you mind is Microsoft.

Microsoft, the mother of the infamous IE which seems to constantly be in the news for its security issues and vulnerabilities (take a look IE wiki page);
Microsoft the mother of the newly born windows 8 surface that sends data to Microsoft about each application that is installed in Windows 8, which is a very serious privacy problem.
(The process is well described by canadian security researcher Nadim Kobeissy )


Now, this Microsoft that earned its reputation is starting a campaign agaisnt google privacy (gmail to be more specific) just to promote their outlook.com, which, it happens, that also display ads.

This is audacity.

Our Third and last example is of course Google:

Google does read your sent and recieved mail. I just wanted to make clear this up. And here's Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

"We don’t need you to type at all. We know where you are, with your permission; we know where you’ve been, with your permission; we can more or less know what you’re thinking about." - Google Chairman Eric Schmidt at the The Atlantic Washington Ideas Forum in 2010.

If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Consumer Privacy.

You all know, that google has this browser named Chrome. And what you might not all know is that chrome, like any other browser have a private surfing mode or "incognito" as Google named it.
Now when start you chrome with incognito mode, this is the message that will be displayed :

This is like me, trashing new readers at the beginning of my post and bitching later about how no one is following me.

And finally, I know this post might not be interesting for the most of you; but I think that "Audacity" is the word of this century and I wanted to have some fun with it.

Bill Gates , Steve Jobs and Linus Trovalds

Written by h20 on 14 dec 2012.

Three names that shined over the years because of their contributions to technology in general 

and to computers specifically, here's the timelines of each one of them.

Who had the most influence ? you be the judge.

“Microsoft looks at new ideas, they don’t evaluate whether the idea will move the industry forward, they ask, ‘how will it help us sell more copies of Windows?”  – Bill Gates

Bill Gates enters Harvard	Bill entered Harvard with the intention of getting his pre-law majors, but quickly switched to technology and graduated with max level mathematics and science courses.
Gates calls MITS	Bill called MITS from his dorm room asking them if they would let him develop software for their computers.
"Microsoft"	Gates and Allen register the trademark "Microsoft". Gates writes a letter to computer hobbyists.
Leaving Harvard	Gates leaves Harvard and sets up Microsoft in Albuquerque N.M. where MITS is headquartered.
Money made from Microsoft in one year!	at the end of the year of 1978 Bill Gates's "Microsoft" had already made 1 million$. Gates Gains a huge reputation for being tough.
Microsoft relocates	Microsoft Headquarters relocates to Bellevue, Wash. near Gates's hometown.
Microsoft’s investments	Microsoft buys the rights to the operating system "DOS" form Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft modifies the "DOS" and renames it "MS-DOS".
Knighthood	Queen Elizabeth II bestows an honorary knighthood on Gates for his contributions to the United Kingdom. Time names him a “Person of the Year” along with Melinda Gates and Bono
Retirement	Gates retires from day-to-day duties at Microsoft on June 27 2008, but stays in the role of chairman and adviser on important development projects. He tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that he plans to pour the same amount of energy into his foundation that he did into Microsoft. He stated in 2006 that his intentions,  is to spend more time working with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Picasso had a saying. He said 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.' And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas” – Steve Jobs

Buddhism	He quits his first job at Atari to backpack across India, take psychedelic drugs, convert to Buddhism, and shave his head . . . experiences that he credits with shaping his creative vision.
Apple	STEVE JOBS and STEVE WOZNIAK form Apple Computers and build their first personal computer . . . in Jobs’ parents’ garage.
Apple II	Apple releases the Apple Two, which becomes the first widely-used personal computer in the world.
Macintosh	Apple launches the Macintosh 1984, a desktop computer with the screen built in.  One year later, Jobs would leave Apple.
Out of Apple	Jobs ousted from Apple and founds NeXT
Pixar	Jobs buys Pixar Animation Studios for $10 MILLION.  In 1995 they release “Toy Story”, the first movie made entirely with computer animation.  It changes animation forever.  When Pixar goes public, Jobs becomes a billionaire.
Return to Apple	With Apple dying and about to be sold or killed off, Jobs returns, and becomes CEO.  He takes a salary of $1.
iProducts	1998- iMac for 1,299$ 1999- iBook 2003- iTunes Music store and iPod 2007- iPhone 2007- Apple TV 2008- Macbook Air 2010- iPad 2011- iCloud

“Really, I’m not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect”

“Talk is cheap. Show me the code” – Linus Trovalds

Why linus?	Torvalds was named after Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize-winning American chemist, although in the book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Torvalds is quoted as saying, "I think I was named equally for Linus the Peanuts cartoon character", noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket-carrying cartoon character"
In the army	His academic career was interrupted after his first year of study when he joined the Finnish Army, selecting the 11-month officer training program to fulfill the mandatory military service of Finland. In the army he holds the rank of second lieutenant, with the role of a ballistic calculation officer.
His own os	Linus Torvalds, a 21-year-old student at Helsinki University, decided to write his own computer operating system.
Why linux?	Initially, Torvalds wanted to call the kernel he developed Freax (a combination of "free", "freak", and the letter X to indicate that it is a Unix-like system), but his friend Ari Lemmke, who administered the FTP server where the kernel was first hosted for downloading, named Torvalds' directory linux.
Why the penguin?	The penguin was trovald’s personal mascot nicknamed Tux, which has been widely adopted by the Linux community as the mascot of the Linux kernel
Top innovator	In 1999 he was named by the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators, under the age of 35, in the world
More good news in 1999	In 1999 Red Hat and VA Linux, both leading developers of Linux-based software, presented Torvalds with stock options in gratitude for his creation. That same year both companies went public and Torvalds' share value temporarily shot up to roughly $20 million.
2006	approximately two percent of the Linux kernel was written by Torvalds himself
2012	his own personal contribution is mostly merging code written by others, with little programming. Torvalds remains the final authority on what new code is incorporated into the standard Linux kernel
Currently	Currently, the Linux Foundation sponsors Torvalds so he can work full time on improving Linux.

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